Monday, 29 May 2017

Kvitova back and Kerber out

Roland Garros has begun and Day One produced two results from the women's draw that stood apart from all others.

Angie Kerber, the top seed, determined to put her season on a positive track, was ousted in devastating fashion by Ekaterina Makarova.

The first set was dominated by the Russian, with 10 winners and a solid second serve which enabled Makarova to win most points on it and avoid any break.

Two breaks however on the Kerber serve and set one was gone 6-2.

The second set was more competitive but Kerber wasted her chances, converting just two of fourteen break points. Her appalling record of winning just 11 of 31 points on serve was not a base for any comeback and Makarova broke four times and hit another 11 winners to win the set and match 6-2 6-2.

The fantastic story was the return to competitive tennis of Petra Kvitova. Not until close to the tournament did we know that the two time Wimbledon champ would be a starter in Paris. But she began by playing the first match on Centre Court and performed remarkably well.

Julia Boserup could not make any inroads on the left handed serve while Kvitova hit 31 winners for the match against 20 unforced errors.

Kvitova won all but one of her points at the net and Boserup lost all of hers.

It was a complete performance by a delighted Kvitova and the win gives her a second round appointment with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in an already open section of the draw which includes Strasbourg winner Samantha Stosur.

Not many other upsets on Day One apart from 11th seed Roberta Vinci losing to Monica Puig. 26th seed Gilles Muller lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in four sets.